The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ literature. It was created to celebrate the 81 years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large. Books that earned the Kirkus Star with publication dates between November 1, 2015, and October 31, 2016 (see FAQ for exceptions), are automatically nominated for the 2016 Kirkus Prize, and the winners will be selected on November 3, 2016, by an esteemed panel composed of nationally respected writers and highly regarded booksellers, librarians and Kirkus critics.

KIRKUS REVIEW

The only memories 16-year-old Toni Royce
has of her mother are the scars on her skin and lingering nightmares of a
vicious and painful fire.

When the orphanage where she has
spent most of her life is, ironically, lost in a fire, Toni finds herself
Toronto-bound, with only three pieces of paper bearing clues to her former
life. Along the way, she creates a hodgepodge family of her own while searching
for the truth about a woman she’s hated for as long as she can remember. This
entry in the Secrets series reads like a haphazardly sewn patchwork quilt: the
individual squares have great potential, but when combined, the pieces don’t
quite fit. The novel simply tries to do too much. In addition to Toni’s search
for her mother, Toten attempts to weave in too many secondary plotlines,
diluting the intensity of Toni’s search. Additionally, Toni’s “aw shucks” naiveté
is overplayed and off-putting. However,
perhaps the greatest disappointment is that while the story promises to be steeped
in Toronto’s 1960s music scene, the music gets lost in the muddle and all but
disappears midway through. In the end, it’s a motley crew of endearing and rich
secondary characters who bear the burden of readers’ engagement.

A novel that could have hit the high
notes but instead falls flat. (Historical
fiction. 12-16)

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